Vol. XXVI—No. 1 
July, 1914 
The Truth About Snakes 
THE INTERESTING LIFE HISTORY OF 
A MUCH-MALIGNED CREATURE — THE 
USEFUL HABITS OF THE SNAKE—HOW 
TO TELL THE POISONOUS SPECIES 
by Raymond L. Ditmars 
Curator of Reptiles in the New York Zoological Park 
A SNAKE of decidedly “poisonous” markings is found glid¬ 
ing from under the barn. Excitement instanter! Hiram 
frantically seizes a stick and batters the sinuous body. He after¬ 
wards relates how the reptile had thrust out its “stinger” at him 
and the general verdict brands the creature as a Milk Snake that 
robs the cows at night! 
This brief introductory episode illustrates how much there is 
that is untrue about 
snakes. In the first 
place the reptile’s pat¬ 
tern, with characteris¬ 
tic colors, should have 
easily identified it as 
one of the non-venom- 
ous species. Secondly, 
no snake has a “sting¬ 
er —even the poison¬ 
ous species lacking 
such an eccentric 
weapon. Again, it 
should be realized that 
a reptile not over a 
half inch in diameter 
at the thickest part 
of the body could not 
steal enough milk from 
a cow to produce a no¬ 
ticeable effect. Most 
important in the sum- 
ming up of this farm 
yard murder is the fact 
that the country boy 
has killed a creature of real value on the farm. The snake’s prowl 
under the barn was prompted by a search for mice. Possibly it 
had already destroyed whole litters of these pests. 
There is no branch of Nature less known than the reptiles — 
particularly the snakes. The bright country lad is closely familiar 
with the other members of the zoological family inhabiting his 
neighborhood. He has at his finger tips the identification of the 
mammals, birds, fishes and insects. Few trees, shrubs or flowers 
can be found with which he is not familiar, but of the snakes 
Owing to the elastic structure of the jaw-bones, a snake can swallow entire an animal four or five 
times the diameter of its neck 
he knows little or nothing that is true, although he 
has stored up a series of amazing tales, accredited 
to these reptiles. He will tell you about hoop snakes 
that roll along like a speeding wheel, of others with 
a venomous spine on the tail, of the devoted serpent 
mother which swallows her entire family temporar¬ 
ily to protect the youngsters, how serpents leap at 
the intruder, of the power of music to subdue the 
dangerous kinds—in fact, weave a history about 
these reptiles that teems with nothing but the improbable. I he 
greater number of the snakes are rated as very poisonous, and the 
situation is rendered more deplorable by the common question: 
Of what earthly use is a snake? 
Let us begin this resume of the truth about snakes by a general 
summing up in defense of the maligned serpent tribe. There are 
over one thousand six hundred species of snakes known to exist 
in various parts of the 
world. Of this vast ag¬ 
gregation, that ranges 
in size from the thirty- 
foot python of three 
hundred pounds weight 
down to the lowly bur- 
rower as thick as a 
goose-quill, but one- 
fourth of the number 
are provided with poi¬ 
sonous fangs. In the 
temperate regions the 
poisonous species are 
in far lesser propor¬ 
tion. In all the world 
but two kinds of poi¬ 
sonous snakes have 
been noted to display 
a tendency actually to 
advance in an attack 
upon a human. These 
are the Malayan King 
Cobra and the African 
Mamba, and evidences 
of actual hostility on the reptile’s part are not common. The at¬ 
titude of the venomous serpent when face to face with the human 
is that of simple defense and a desire to escape if the way be 
open. In no country is there a high mortality from snake-bites 
except where gross carelessness is the rule. In British India, 
teeming with venomous reptiles, a large proportion of the popu¬ 
lace carelessly tramps barelegged through the haunts of the cobra 
and the krait, and the death rate mounts to an average of 22,000 
the year. In the United States, where there are generous numbers 
